CNY Reunion in Bintan – Can’t believe my old dame did it!

February 9, 2016 2 Comments

The Wong/Cheng/Chua Family CNY tradition continues. From Sentosa to Desaru to Kukup, this is our 4th CNY staycation tour. Despite organising this 4 months ahead, we had the smallest turnout. Due to the bad timing, Uncle Asty and my sister’s family couldn’t make it.

The weather was terrible. It was cold, stormy and windy throughout our 3-day stay. What a waste, we booked 2 big villas by the pool and beach! It was impossible to do any sea sport, the waves were huge and choppy!

The ferry ride from Singapore to Bintan was quite an adventure. The sea condition was really bad. Just 15 minutes into the ride, things got chaotic pretty quickly. The ferry rocked violently and many passengers vomited. A Chinese man who sat beside me went berserk. Frantically, he unlocked the emergency door and went out to the open deck. He was spotted by other passengers who alerted the captain.

Stranded inside the villa, there wasn’t much to do. Everything was exorbitantly expensive here – food, shopping and activities. We came well-prepared with lots of food and booze. For some strange reasons, UnionPay Debit Card holders at the resort enjoyed 30% discount! That was quite a substantial saving! Thankfully, cousin Leon from Xiamen has his China card with him! We enjoyed a very sumptuous CNY dinner at the Kelong!

Bored and grounded indoor, I flew my drone out to take some aerial footage of our villas. The wind was too strong for the DJI Phantom but I managed to control the drone within range. However, there were 2 gigantic broadcasting towers beside our resort. Out of the sudden, I lost all transmission to the drone and it drifted away. The wind took it higher and further. It was horrific to see my drone drifting away and I couldn’t do anything about it. Somehow, the towers interfered and blocked my signals. For a good 20 minutes, I lost total contact with the drone!

Elkan and I ran out to search for the drone. Chester saw us running out of the villa and joined us. Thankfully, I managed to reconnect with the drone. From the live view on my iPad, I piloted the drone back to us just minutes before its battery ran out. What a scary nightmare!

On the second day, we went out to the Activity Centre. We had so much unexpected fun! We did archery and air-rifle shooting. Felicia and Elkan were sharp-shooters. It was Felicia’s first attempt on the air-rifle and she hit the target!

The highlight of the day was my mother. While we were leaving the Activity Centre, we saw a couple of kids soaring down the flying-fox. Surprisingly, my 70-year-old mother wanted to try it! (Even my timid boy wanted to play too!) The staff thought we were joking when we bought the ticket for my mum. They said my mum could be their oldest customer ever! They were expecting my mum to back out at the last minute but my old dame proved them wrong. She leaped and soared! What a joy to see her doing the flying-fox. We were very impressed! My mum rocks and she has balls!

What an unusual CNY reunion! No sun but we had so much fun together! It was a great break for me, to be away from work and having quantity time with my relatives, parents, wife and our little monkey! Enjoy the photos and Vlog below:

Filed under Family, Life in Shanghai, Travel Tagged with , , , ,

2 Responses to CNY Reunion in Bintan – Can’t believe my old dame did it!

  1. Dennis says:
    October 5, 2018 at 1:43 pm

    Very nice holiday location…. Can i ask what microphone do you use for the Gimbal stabilizer? The voice capture is very clear. And also how do you swing the camera back and forth between front and back camera? Is it phone camera?

    Reply

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